(Copyright The Ottawa Citizen 2005)

Looking at Pearl Jam's career over the last decade, even an admiring fan would be tempted to conclude the once mighty rock act had plunged from the god-like status bestowed on them as one of the defining forces of the Seattle grunge scene.

One of the earliest signs the crown was slipping was their battle with Ticketmaster, a move that cut into their touring for several years. When we'd all but forgotten them, they came out of the blue with a uncharacteristically melodramatic version of the tearjerking oldie Last Kiss. And then they overwhelmed fans by releasing 72 CDs one year, an entire tour's worth of live concert recordings.

Twelve years have gone by since they last played in this area, and they haven't had a new studio disc in three. By now, they must be has-beens. Barely relevant. Right?

Not so quick. As the band makes its way across Canada from Vancouver to Newfoundland, including a stop tonight at the Corel Centre, the shows have been packed and critics have been raving. The rock 'n' roll health of Pearl Jam appears to be excellent, on stage and off.

A chat this week with guitarist Stone Gossard revealed plenty of evidence of activity within the bands. Gossard not only shed light on the status of the band's new record, but also discussed the gamut of such rock-related issues as bootlegs, surcharges and political involvement, as well as the fun of playing places like Thunder Bay on the current tour, which marks the band's first test of a system that offers digital downloads of each concert a couple of hours after the show.

Gossard said they've been recording, off and on for the last eight months, with producer Adam Kasper. They haven't decided on a title but "a lot" of songs have been written and recorded, although none so far have made it into the setlist.

Any new directions? "Yup," says Gossard.

Care to elaborate? Not really.

"Well, me describing what those directions are, I don't know if I can do that or not," he says.

"Being in the band and being very close to the music, I might see nuances and some things that are changing that might not be obvious to everyone else."

Gossard is too close to it. Fair enough. But at least he understands the curiosity over singer Eddie Vedder's lyrics, and is willing to give a quick report. Vedder is known to be media shy. "I think certainly the words that I've read of Ed's so far have been beautiful, and the melodies are amazing. It's well on its way to being a great record, I think."

Personal or political? "The personal and the political, they merge within him at different times," Gossard says. "He really has a great range in his lyric writing, I think as far as his subtlety and his ability to inhabit different characters, his ability to be political, his ability to be personal, his ability to speak from a feminine perspective."

No matter what ends up on the new disc, we aren't likely to see it until next year. In the meantime, Pearl Jam fans have to be content with a never-ending stream of official bootlegs. In 2000, the band tried releasing dozens of them on CD through their label. Now it's a $9.99 U.S. digital download, available within a couple of hours through their website.

"We're certainly not going to do it like we did before," said Gossard. "We ended up selling a lot of bootlegs, but there was a lot left, too. It was an experiment that we're happy that we did but at the same time, I think doing the downloads, it's just going to be less materials, less energy spent in getting the music out there, which is what we want to do."

But, he added, a particularly hot show could always be released later on CD.

An initiative not much more successful than the Great CD Deluge of 2000 was the Great Ticketmaster Battle of 1994, when Pearl Jam accused the company of monopolizing ticket distribution and requested an investigation by the U.S. justice department (the investigation was later dropped).

"I think that Ticketmaster and Pearl Jam both learned something from that exchange," Gossard says. "I think if we had any affect on it at all, I think maybe we gave some people some ideas about the fact that you can look for alternatives, and there is going to be somebody who comes up with an alternative, who is going to offer something that Ticketmaster doesn't."

Their own online fan club, for instance, offers tickets without surcharges, although you have to pay an annual membership fee.
These days, most Pearl Jam concert tickets are available through Ticketmaster. "Obviously, we cut a better deal with Ticketmaster than we did before," Gossard laughs. (Ottawa is one of the few exceptions; tickets to all Corel Centre concerts are available through capitaltickets.ca, the Ottawa Senators' ticket agency.)

To Gossard, these issues aren't about selling out, they're about "empowering people to participate in the processes that are going on in their lives.

"Small ones, which are family and your personal relationships, and the larger political ones," he says. In other words, if you don't take part, nothing will change.

The band's latest demonstration of social responsibility was their participation in last weekend's MTV benefit for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. They were shown performing the song Given To Fly during their Sept. 7 concert in Saskatoon.

This is not to be confused with a version of the Guess Who's Running Back Through Saskatoon, which Gossard says they pulled out during the encore in Saskatoon, and is available as part of that night's download.

The Canadian tour, and a late-fall excursion to Latin America, are likely to be the last major tours before the new record comes out.

Gossard says the Canadian schedule started with the usual bookings in major cities, then grew to include dates this month in Saskatoon, Thunder Bay, Halifax and St. John's.

In Thunder Bay last Friday, the band delighted 5,000 or so sweaty fans with a jammed-out version of Neil Young's Keep On Rocking in the Free World, joined on stage by members of the opening act, Supersuckers.

"We've always loved coming to Toronto and Montreal and we just haven't explored more because we were always feeling like we wanted to do not that many shows. You want to go out and tour, and make money and place yours songs and stuff, but you want to be able to be home with your family," says Gossard.

"But we sure are happy about just flying over this country and checking it out. It's just gorgeous. We flew into Thunder Bay and it's the most amazing countryside. It feels like we're having a love affair with Canada right now. We went through our reclusive phase. We're in love with you, Canada. We can't stay away any longer. We've been neglecting you."

And what about jamming with Sleater-Kinney, the smart, gritty guitar band that's opening tonight's concert?

"I don't think that we can help ourselves but to do that," Gossard said.

Pearl Jam, with opening act Sleater-Kinney, tonight at the Corel Centre. Tickets & times, 599-3267.

(Copyright The Ottawa Citizen 2005)

At first, it looked like Pearl Jam's concert at the Corel Centre last night would be marked by a slow build.

The band chose the acoustic guitar-led Wash to open the show, a song that doesn't exactly prompt fist-pumping throughout an audience.
But after a 12-year absence from the Ottawa area, the mighty Seattle band could play anything and we would have been ecstatic. There was electricity in the air as a near sellout crowd of about 13,000 fans waited for the band to take the stage.

With the shut-up-and-pay-attention opening song out of the way, the band dove headlong into a string of powerful anthems. The speedy pulse of Go sent heartrates soaring, while the groove-driven Hail Hail got fists pumping.

It quickly became apparent this was not going to be a predictable show, which is, of course, part of the appeal of a Pearl Jam concert. The setlist changes each night and you never know what to expect.

In fact, there's a whole subculture out there of fans who attend every show and collect bootleg recordings. All along this tour of Canada, the bootlegs are offered as official downloads, available for $10 through the band's website a couple of hours after the music stops.

I suspect this is going to be a popular download. More than two hours later, it has been an incredible concert, certain to end up as one of the best of the year in Ottawa, just like their last area appearance at the Robert Guertin Arena in Hull was a life-changing experience, and a highlight of that year.

Again, the band created a tightly controlled atmosphere of wild abandon, if that's possible. Singer Eddie Vedder bent his knees as if riding the surf, clung to the microphone for dear life and sang he was retching (a good thing, believe it or not). He had also made a surprise appearance as the evening's first performer, when he played the soap operatic Last Kiss on electric guitar and then introduced Sleater-Kinney.

Back at the main event, Jeremy and Even Flow were as momentous as any Rolling Stones hit, while Don't Gimme No Lip had an urgency that was far more punk than Green Day.

During the multi-part encore, the band reclaimed the jam in Pearl Jam with stretched-out versions of their songs, Vedder swigging wine while his bandmates dug into their instruments.

"It's turned out to be a brilliant decision to cross this country of yours," said Vedder, taking a rare break from singing his lungs out to speak to the audience.

The band is about half way through Vancouver-to-St. John's journey this month that's included stops in Saskatoon and Thunder Bay.

"It's been a real pleasure," he added before fans drowned him out with their screams.

Joining Pearl Jam for tour stops on this side of the country are Sleater-Kinney, the three-woman band from Portland, Oregon. They came out like they were finding their footing on a shaky gangplank, but were soon tearing up the section of stage allocated to them with frenzied guitars and wailing. The set was highlighted by terrific songs from their latest disc and a fierce cover of Danzig's Mother, featuring a guest spot by Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready.